Rockford, Winnebago County housing authorities not chosen for $28M grant

Tuesday

Apr 1, 2014 at 9:30 AMApr 1, 2014 at 1:27 PM

By Jennifer WheelerRockford Register Star

ROCKFORD — Rockford and Winnebago County housing authorities have lost out on a $28 million federal grant that could have sparked a transformation in one of Rockford’s most poverty-stricken neighborhoods.

But RHA Executive Director Ron Clewer said not all is lost.

“We’ve made huge strides as a community, as a planning and neighborhood effort, to get these agencies to the table to get the commitment,” Clewer said.

If the housing authorities had received the grant, the money would have been used to help tear down the Fairgrounds Valley housing complex and replace it with new apartments and homes for people of various income levels.

Fairgrounds has 210 subsidized apartments for 466 residents. They live in units that vary from two to six bedrooms. Fairgrounds is located just northwest of downtown Rockford and is situated near the city’s poorest neighborhoods.

The grant would have allowed the RHA to dismantle the complex, which Clewer said is obsolete, and replace it with new lower density housing to reduce the concentration of poverty.

The grant would have also financed incentives for private development and paid for support services that would improve employment, education and health opportunities.

Clewer said he learned last week that the housing authorities were not among the six applications chosen to move on to a second round of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Choice Neighborhood program.

The project generated verbal and written support from community groups. But chosen applicants had more documentation verifying commitments from regional and local partners to their projects, Clewer said.

Clewer said the housing authorities will reapply for the grant this fall with more documentation cementing local commitment to the project. The agencies might ask for the maximum grant — $30 million — at that time.

“This is not, to me, the end,” Clewer said. “It’s allowing us to create a stronger beginning.”

Alan Zais, executive director of the Winnebago County Housing Authority, said it can take several tries to get a grant and that it’s worth pursuing again.

“The RHA has laid important groundwork,” Zais said. “We would love to be partners again. It’s important to the west side.”